Category Archives: Culinary perspectives

Special Six: First Taste of Yangon

2020 started with a brief trip to Yangon. Over the couple of days that I was there, while I did not have much time to sightsee, I did have the opportunity to try out some nice cafes and restaurants with friends.

Here are the six that I enjoyed:

(1) Rangoon Tea House in the old Town area was my favourite. My friends introduced it to me on the first day and I revisited it with a colleague on the last day of my visit. I tried out Mohinga, a popular breakfast in Myanmar. The Mohinga I tried had a fish broth and egg served with rice noodles and lots of crispy stuff that you could add to your soup.

(2) Shan Shoe Yar was the place my friends chose to treat me for lunch on my last day in Yangon. They chose it for its Shan State cuisine. The flavours were different from the local food I had tried out in Yangon till then. Especially nice was the dessert, which was fried sticky rice dipped in sugar and sesame seeds.

(3) Strand Café was a place I dropped by as I was tired after walking around that area in the hot sun. Strand hotel was built in 1907 and listed in many travel guides to Yangon as a place to try out their famed afternoon tea. I enjoyed relaxing with a book and a cool smoothie in the elegant café.

IMG_5811(4) Bodhi Nava close to Kandawgyi lake is my pick for best coffee in Yangon. I tried out a few places that was recommended as having good coffee but the coffee I liked best was the one served in this little café. They also served a great smoothie bowl for breakfast.

(5) Aung Thukha listed at #17 on Trip Advisor was a place I tried out for lunch one day. It is a busy eating place where you need to select the dishes that you would like from the counter and they bring it to your table.

IMG_2857(6) Sharky’s was an organic restaurant that I went to a couple of times during my visit. It has a lovely ambience and some great food. I did not try the local food offering there but tried out their sausage platter instead with a lovely coloured sweet pea and lime drink.

If you have visited Yangon, which was your favourite restaurant or café? Of the six mentioned here, which would you like to try out?

 

Special Six: Taste of Stockholm

Going back to Stockholm after nearly 10 years, earlier this year, I had expressed my wish to re-taste the flavours of Stockholm when dining out with friends. Therefore, we tried out traditional restaurants serving Swedish cuisine during this visit. From the numerous dishes that I tried out during this visit, the following six were my favourites.

(1) Västerbottenpaj

A meeting with a former colleague at her favourite café, Gunnarsons Konditori, had me tasting the classic cheese pie for lunch.

IMG_1439(2) Pan fried Salmon with new potatoes

The Gastabud offering of pan fried salmon with new potatoes was delicious and highly recommended. We were there quite early so got a table without having to wait. Currently topping the restaurants in Stockholm for its Swedish cuisine, I observed that many who came after us had to wait in queues for tables to free up.

IMG_1477(3) Stekt strömming 

Sjöpaviljongen, a lovely lakeside restaurant near the hotel I stayed at during this visit, served this traditional fried herring dish.
IMG_1519(4) Ren och viltsKavspanna 

Kvarnen , an eatery serving meals for more than 100 years, was the spot a few colleagues and I decided to try out on our last evening in Stockholm. On a whim, I decided to try their reindeer stew which was good. The first time I did try reindeer stew cooked in a Sami hut, back in 2001, during my visit to Kiruna.

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(5) Kajsas Fisksoppa

Kajsas Fisk at Hotorgshallen, operating since 1984, was highly recommended by a friend and so we both met up there to enjoy their famed fish soup, which was perfect for the chilly afternoon.

(6) Pankakor med jordgubb sylt

At the hotel where I stayed at in Stockholm, they served Swedish pancakes for breakfast and that was what I had each morning.

IMG_1539Apart from main meals, one cannot forget fika when one is in Sweden. My favourite kanelbulle from this visit was the one I had at Bageri Petrus in Sodermalm.

IMG_1391What are your favourite Swedish cuisine flavours?

Special Six: Coffee in Luang Prabang

(1) Café de Laos

It is a quaint little coffee house right on the main street running through the old city and opposite Zurich bakery, which serves delicious pastry. I tried the coffee Laotian style, with thick condensed milk.
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(2) Saffron

The lovely café served great coffee. I had their cold brew while enjoying the view of the Mekong. On my last day, I revisited the café to buy some coffee for home.

(3) Joma Bakery

The flat white served at the bakery was quite good and their cinnamon rolls even better.

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(4) Dao Coffee House:

The coffee house was another place that served decent coffee. I tried out their iced coffee as the afternoon sun was very warm outside.
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(5) Dexter Café :

Dexter located on the main street of the old city was just opening up for the day, when I stopped by for my morning coffee. I very much liked the flat white I tried here as much as I liked the Saffron coffee.

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(6) Coffee House at the airport:

At the coffee outlet in the farthest corner of the food court, I had some good iced coffee.
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Do you take the effort to try out locally produced coffee or tea when you travel? Any favourites in Luang Prabang?

Special Six: Eating out in Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang is filled with restaurants and cafes to fit all budgets. These however were the six that I liked from the ones I tried out.

(1) Ock Pop Tok Café:

The café at the Living Crafts Center of Ock Pop Tok has a lovely ambience and I specially enjoyed watching the sunset over the Mekong, while enjoying my dinner of Khao Soi. The café screens movies once a week, and seems to be popular among expat communities in the area.

(2) Secret Pizza:

One of the two Airbnb accommodations I stayed at in during my visit to Luang Prabang was at Secret Pizza. Not only was the place lovely, they served pizzas on Tuesdays and Thursdays and the garden transformed into a lively and bustling meeting place for families with children. Since my room overlooked the garden, I enjoyed my ‘secret’ pizza on the little patio of my room away from the busy center.

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(3) Khai Phaen: A vocational training restaurant, that provides training for youth from marginalized communities, was one place that I had marked that I needed to visit during my travel to Luang Prabang. The place was lovely and the food, Sai Oua with Jeok Mak Keua, was delicious. I was especially happy to see these leaflets on the table on ways travelers could better protect children in local communities.

(4) Dao Coffee House:

Described as a traditional coffee house, I stopped by to try Dao’s coffee and ended up having lunch. I tried out Naam Khao, which is a kind of fried rice ball salad mixed with sausages, nuts, herbs wrapped in green leaves and eaten with a dipping sauce.

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(5) Phon Heuang:

A tiny café near the Garavek theatre, the place served tasty and filling portions of meals for a fraction of the cost of more upscale restaurants like Khai Phaen and Ock Pop Tok. I had rice with basil chicken stir fry. While similar to the Thai dish, there was a difference in the seasoning.

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(6) Night market

A fan of coconut pancakes, I used to buy a portion of coconut pancakes each evening at the night market, during my stay at the heritage house in the old city.

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 If you have been to Luang Prabang, what were some of your favourite places to eat?

Tamarind Cooking School

During my trip to Luang Prabang, I booked a cooking class with Tamarind Cooking School.

Meeting up at their restaurant, I was served a herbal drink while waiting for all those who had booked for the day to arrive. Once everyone was ready, a van took us to a local market where the cooking instructor showed us some of the herbs used in Laotian cooking.

After our walk around the market, we were taken to the cooking venue amidst paddy fields. There, after donning our aprons, we started with cleaning the sticky rice and placing it in the basket to steam.

We then proceeded to make a range of dishes. We started with Mokpa, fish steamed in banana leaf and Laap, a salad made of minced chicken and herbs.

We were given the option of choosing one of two types of dipping sauce to make. I chose to make Jaew Mak Khua (eggplant sauce). This delicious dip was basically roasted eggplant mashed with herbs and spices. We ate it with the sticky rice we had cooked.

We also learnt to make Ua Si Khai (stuffed lemongrass). This was minced chicked mixed with herbs and spices and stuffed in a basket cut into lemongrass stalks. The stuffed stalks were then dipped in egg yolk and deep fried. I had trouble cutting the lemongrass stalks and needed help with it.

Our group was then invited to eat the food we had cooked for lunch.

IMG_0767From the food I had cooked, I enjoyed best the eggplant dip with sticky rice and Mokpa.

After we had finished our main meal, we were invited to cook our dessert which was black sticky rice cooked in coconut milk and served with cut fruit topping and tamarind jam produced by the cooking school.

IMG_0769The Tamarind Cooking School experience was a lovely and fun way to be introduced to Laotian cuisine.

Special Six: Flavours of Bali

During my first visit to Bali, these are the flavours of Bali that greeted me.

(1) Nasi Kuning at Wanaku Bali:

Straight from the airport, our group was taken to Wanaku Bali for lunch and served a variety of traditional Balinese dishes such as sayur urab, deep-fried eggplant with a spicy sauce.

(2) Ikan Bakar at Jimbaran:

Famed for its seafood, Jimbaran was the location of our first group dinner in Bali. We were served grilled seafood on the beach.

IMG_1784 (3) Sate Lilit and Ayam at Kurnia Village:

On our way back from Tanah Lot, we stopped at Kurnia Village restaurant for lunch. I had some delicious sate lilit there as well as the spicy sambal matah.

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(4) Nasi Campur with Tum Ayam

Tired from my day out the second day visiting Pura Lempuyang, I chose to order room service and ordered Nasi Campur. The food at the hotel was actually quite tasty.
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(5) Smoothie bowl at Paperboy:

While smoothie bowls are traditional Balinese cuisine, since this is served at almost all cafes and hotel restaurants for breakfast, and especially since I had the most delicious and refreshing bowl at Paperboy on my last morning in the city, I am including this as my special flavor of Bali.

IMG_4790 (6) Coffee at Expat:

If a country I visit is known for its coffee, I usually like to try out a couple of coffee shops. During my brief visit in Bali, I tried out four different places. My favourite of the four was Expat’s (Seminyak) coffee and I brought home some of their coffee.

IMG_4742Which are your favourite flavours of Bali?

Special Six: Tastes of Egypt

During my 9 days in Egypt, I tried some of the local cuisine. Here’s six of my favourites.

(1) Baladi with Torshi

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At Sobhy Kaber Grills, they served the flatbread with pickled vegetables (aubergine, carrots, onions), a spicy salad (cucumber and tomato with coriander), hummus and a cheesy dip as a starter. It was very delicious that I would have been happy had it been the complete meal.

(2) Molokhiya

IMG_4801The green leafy vegetable soup with coriander and garlic was an interesting interlude before the main meal was served at the Sobhy Kaber Grills. The Egyptian rice served with okra in a tomato based sauce and roast chicken was a lovely finish to the lovely dinner I had on my first day in Cairo, at the recommendation of Nour Gaber, my taxi driver for the day.

(3) Koshari

While I had wanted to try Koshari at the famous Abou Tarek Koshari shop in downtown Cairo, I finally got to try it at a café in Khan El Khalili bazaar.

IMG_2687Considered the unofficial national dish of Egypt, Koshari is a tasty mix of carbs – rice, pasta, fried lentils, onion flakes and tomato sauce.

(4) Falafel Sandwiches:

I was not much of a fan of falafel before, mainly because the ones that I had tried earlier had been made of chickpeas. However, from the first time I tried falafel in Cairo, I enjoyed it very much. The Egyptian falafels are made of fava beans.

Also, on our tour, our guide organized falafel sandwiches for lunch whenever we were traveling through the day with limited time to stop for lunch at a restaurant. Therefore, I associate falafel sandwiches as the flavor of this trip.

I haven’t taken any photo of the falafel sandwiches because all the times I had them had been when I was too hungry to bother about taking a photo first.

(5) Ful Medames

I tried Ful on the felucca cruise, when they served it for breakfast. Again, I forgot to take a photo but the cooked fava beans was great with the flatbread and boiled egg.

(6) Konafa

On my last morning in Cairo, I had asked Nour to take me to El Abd bakery so that I could get some traditional sweets to take back home. It was there that I first tried out the Egyptian Konafa which has a creamy layer in the middle. Previous Konafa I had tried in Jordan was more crispy without any creamy filling. At home, my mother also seemed to enjoy the Egyptian Konafa very much.

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Photo credit: Cairo 360

Which of the above have you tried?

Rice Noodles at an Organic Farm

While searching for some unique experiences to try out during my visit to Luang Prabang a couple of weeks ago, I came across an interesting tour that stated it would involve making rice noodles from scratch. Intrigued I booked the tour and was informed that I would be picked up at 8.50am on the day of the tour from my accommodation place. As the tour operator had mentioned that I was the only one booked for the day, I was surprised to see a family of three when I got into the van. One of them had been working in Luang Prabang for the past 7 months and had already gone on this tour and had decided to take her visiting parents to share her experience of the organic farm.

The guide introduced himself as Lee and informed us that we would be visiting his family’s farm. He explained that there were 7 brothers in the family and him being the 7th brother, the farm was called Lee 7 farm.

Upon arriving at the organic farm, a group of children greeted us and Lee mentioned that they were his and his siblings’ kids, who were all at the farm because it was the weekend. He also introduced us to two children from the neighbouring village, who were learning English, and who he had invited over to the farm during tour days so that they could practice their language skills with visitors.  Lee first gave us a tour of his herb and vegetable patch, where he was growing different herbs and supplying to restaurants in the city.

IMG_0779.JPGAfter sharing some of his successful and unsuccessful farming stories, Lee pointed out his family’s paddy fields and mentioned that the rice grown on the farm was just sufficient for his extended family’s annual rice consumption.

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We were then introduced to his buffalo, Pling, and a demonstration of ploughing a plot of land was given.
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After the others in the group tried out the ploughing, we pulled some paddy from the nursery and planted it in the international rice patch, so called because Lee had his international visitors to the farm sow the paddy in that patch.

Then, Lee proceeded to show us how the rice was threshed and then winnowed and the different ways of carrying the grain baskets. We moved to the rice de-husking area with one of the baskets and ground the de-husked grains to rice flour.

Lee explained that the rice flour was fermented for a few days before being made into rice noodles. A teacher by profession, Lee mentioned that he had got the idea for the tour when he realized that very few of the younger generations in his village knew how to make rice noodles. Given that his neighbour was an expert noodle maker, Lee decided to partner with her to share their heritage with the younger generations as well as international visitors.

Lee’s neighbour then demonstrated how the fermented rice flour was kneaded and converted to the noodle batter.

The batter was then squeezed into a pot of boiling water and cooked for a few minutes.

Once the noodles were cooked, it was transferred to a pot of cold water and then transferred to the serving tray.

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After showing me how to make a papaya salad, Lee invited us to have our freshly made lunch of rice noodles with steamed vegetables and papaya salad.

IMG_0848The freshly made rice noodles was delicious with the tangy papaya salad and the four of us enjoyed it seated around a low table on a raised platform overlooking the paddy fields.

IMG_0854.jpgLee decided to make us some fresh sugarcane juice after lunch and we relaxed with the sweet drink while sharing some of our travel plans for the coming days.

The Lee7Farm tour is an authentic experience that I would recommend and especially as it supports a local entrepreneur trying to maintain and share his organic lifestyle.

Fifi and Hop

Special Six: Taste of Karnataka

 

During my holiday in Bangalore last week, I tried a few of Karnataka’s traditional dishes. Here are the special six tastes of Karnataka that I would recommend visitors to the state to try.

(1) Kesari Bath

During my visit to the neighbourhood of Basavanagudi, I had searched for an eatery specializing in local cuisine. I came across Vidyarthi Bhavan, a vegetarian eatery that started out in 1943 as a student canteen. While their dosas are quite famous, according to the waiter and the family who sat at my table, I decided to only try out Kesari Bath. This semolina sweet is a variation of the Kesari that is made in Sri Lanka and most South Indian states.

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(2) Filter Coffee

After having had some terrible coffee in the first few coffee shops I had tried since arriving in Bangalore, the filter coffee at Vidyarthi Bhavan was a pleasant surprise. Simple and unassuming and served in tiny stainless steel cups, the hot beverage was a treat.

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(3) Thatte Idli

On the drive to Mysore, the driver asked if I would like to stop for tiffin at Bidadi. According to him, “the idlis are famous here”. So, I took his advice and tried out the plate idlis made of a mixture of urad dhal (black gram), flattened rice and tapioca pearls. The resulting dish was very light and soft and tasted more like ‘appam’/ hoppers than idli.
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(4) Mylari Dosa

During my search for local eateries in Mysore, I came across Hotel Mylari, an institution that started around 80 years ago and serves the unique Mylari Dosa made from a secret family recipe. With all the great reviews of this dosa, I had to try it out during my visit to the city. The tiny place only served dosas and the waiter served me mine on a plate with a banana leaf and with a dollop of butter and chutney.

Mylari Dosa

The famous Mylari Dosa

(5) Rava Idli

On my last evening in Bangalore, I decided to go for evening tiffin at Mavalli tiffin room, another old eatery in the city that was started in 1924 and now has several branches around the city. I had read that they were the ones who concocted the first ‘rava idli’, which to this day remains a popular favourite at the eatery. So, I decided to try it out on my last evening in the city.

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(6) Nippattu

I noticed that the counter near the cashier had lots of packaged snacks and browsing through them, I decided to try out a fried snack called ‘Nippattu’. The snack is made of rice flour, fried gram and peanuts. It is quite addictive and I was not able to take a photo of it before my family consumed it all.

Which of the above six would you be interested in trying during your visit to Karnataka?

Swedish Food I miss

A Swedish friend once asked me what typical Swedish food I missed. This post is about all the food that I miss from my years in Stockholm.

  1. Kanelbulle

My favourite Swedish food is kanelbulle (cinnamon buns). The smell of freshly baked cinnamon buns and the texture and taste of the bun is unique to Sweden and I have loved it since I first tried it out. I have tried making my own kanelbulle as I started enjoying baking in recent years, but have not been able to get it quite right yet. As you can see from the photo below, courtesy of Visit Sweden, a perfect kanelbulle is a wonderful treat for all ages.

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Credits: Susanne Walström/imagebank.sweden.se

2. Vetebröd

Fika is a ritual in Sweden. I loved the fika breaks, chats over cups of Swedish coffee, like Gevalia, and a baked treat. One of my favourite fika treats, besides kanelbulle, is vetebröd. This is a lightly sweetened cardamom bread, that is perfect with coffee. I have tried making vetebröd at home several times using this recipe, which has turned out quite well.

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Source: Tasteline

3. Semla

This is a Swedish seasonal treat that makes its appearance in Stockholm bakeries during winter months and particularly for Shrove Tuesday. Semla is basically cardamom buns with an almond paste and whipped cream filling. What I like most about this tasty treat, besides the delicious combination of flavours, is that the cream is just a touch sweet without being too much.

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Credits: Susanne Walström/imagebank.sweden.se

4. Lusekatter

These saffron buns are made typically for St Lucia’s day on December 13. I was first introduced to it at work, during my teaching year at the International School of Stockholm. It is a lovely Scandinavian tradition, with children participating in a singing procession led by one girl dressed as St. Lucy, wearing a white dress and a red sash and a crown of candles on her head. The kids would share these saffron buns or cookies with others.

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Source: Swedish food

5. Glögg och pepparkakor

Something served during the Christmas season, Glögg (mulled wine) and Pepparkakor (gingerbread cookies) are a delicious treat during the cold winter days. In Sweden, there was also a non-alcoholic version of glögg called julmust, which was what my mother used to serve at home to visitors in December. My favourite memory of this combination of glögg and pepparkakor was at the ice-hotel in Kiruna, when after hours of waiting on the frozen river to see the northern lights, the warm spiced wine and cookies tasted delicious and wonderful.

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Credits: Helena Wahlman/imagebank.sweden.se

6. Pannkakor och sylt

I have always been a huge fan of pancakes since I was a kid and sundays at home generally mean a pancake breakfast. So, it automatically followed that during my year of teaching in Stockholm, my favourite school lunch was the same as that of the kids – Swedish pancakes and sylt (jam or preserve), mostly lingonberry.

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Source: Swedish food

7. Pytt i Panna

After seeing many adverts on TV on this dish, we tried out the store bought pytt i panna (Swedish hash) and it soon started appearing on a regular basis at meal times at home. I like the vegetarian hash, with carrots, turnips, radish etc. more.

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Source: Swedish Food

8. Räksmörgås 

The Swedish open prawn sandwich makes for a delicious lunch. If you are able to get hold of a Toast Skagen, you are in for a bigger treat. I missed this so much so that I went to a Scandinavian Christmas fair in London, for this sandwich and a kanelbulle.

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Source: Swedish food

9. Salmon with new potatoes and dill sauce

This is a typical combination in a Swedish meal – new potatoes and dill sauce with poached salmon or gravlax (dill cured salmon). We didn’t make it at home but I often chose it, when eating out in Stockholm.

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Source: Swedish Food

10. Ris à la Malta

I am a huge fan of Swedish rice pudding. One of my friends, Inna, and I used to play badminton at Frescatihallen at Stockholm University once or twice a week and we always treated ourselves to risifrutti (which is basically packaged store-bought ris a la malta) or mannafrutti, after our game.

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Source: Swedish Food

Which is your favourite Swedish food? Or, which of the above would you love to try out during your visit to Sweden?

[I had drafted this post a while back but had not got around to finishing it, when I saw that the #travellinkup theme for September was memorable meals so I decided to share this post on food that make me nostalgic about my years in Stockholm, with the monthly link up, hosted by Angie, Emma, Jessi and Tanja

I am also linking it up to :
* Wanderful Wednesday, hosted by Snow in Tromso, Lauren on Location, The Sunny Side of This and What a Wonderful World]
Wanderful Wednesday